Production, characterization and magnetic properties of Bismuth-substituted Yttrium Iron Garnet layers prepared by sol-gel process

In this study, (BiY₂)Fe₅O₁₂ (Bi:YIG) magneto-optic layers were deposited on Si(100) and glass substrates using a sol-gel process. Bi, Y and Fe based-precursors were dissolved using methanol and glacial asetic acid as a solvent and chelating agent respectively. The turbidity, viscosity, gel point and pH values of the prepared solutions were determined using turbidimeter, rheometer and pHmeter. The prepared xerogels were dried and used for DTA/TG analysis to determine heat treatment regime in thin film production. Based on DTA/TG results, the deposited films were annealed at 800°C for 2 hours in air. Inasmuch as the magnetic and morphological properties are important for applications such as superconductive material vortex investigations, the produced films were investigated in details. The structural properties of the coatings were characterized by using XRD, SEM-EDS and AFM. The magnetic properties of the films were evaluated by the substitution of Bi and process conditions using VSM. The obtained results are presented.